This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 12:18 PM- Real Salt Lake suffered a devastating - and possibly irreversible - defeat this morning in its quest for public funding to help build a $110 million soccer stadium in Sandy.
Salt Lake County's Debt Review Committee (DRC) voted 4-0 (with two abstentions) against recommending that the county steer $30 million in new and old hotel taxes toward the project.
County Mayor Peter Corroon conceded that the committee's vote will force him to "think twice" about whether to take a proposed contract for the stadium plan to the County Council.
However, Corroon said he will take the weekend to weigh the issue before deciding.
"The buck stops with me," he said. "I'm the ultimate decision-maker." After the vote, RSL officials left the meeting without comment.
They have warned before that without public funding, the stadium cannot be built - and that without a soccer-specific stadium, the team would have difficulty staying in Utah.
Before making its recommendation, the DRC voted 5-0 to adopt a financial model that blends the team's projections with those put forth by a county consultant.
That hybrid shaves RSL's projected attendance by 2,000 to 5,000 a game. The team forecast 14,400 to 17,000 paying fans per game at a Sandy stadium from 2008 to 2013. But the DRC's model predicts 12,000 to 12,800.
County number crunchers also sliced RSL's concert predictions in half. The team expects to book 11 to 18 shows a year, averaging 17,500 fans. The DRC ruled that a more-realistic forecast would be four or five annual concerts that draw about 11,000.
In the end, the panel expects RSL to be $9 million in the red by 2013 - a long ways from the comfortable profit forecast by the team.